Donald Trump and some of his top supporters have unleashed a new
campaign message in the aftermath of last week's Dallas police
shootings and other instances of violence against law enforcement
— one that echoes Richard Nixon's 1968 playbook.

"I am the law-and-order candidate," Trump said at a Monday speech
in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Running on restoring "law and order" was what catapulted Nixon
into the White House in 1968, when tensions between law
enforcement and civil-rights and antiwar activists boiled over
into riots in multiple major US cities.

During the beginning of his Monday speech, Trump used the phrase
"law and order" multiple times. So did New Jersey Gov. Chris
Christie, a top contender for Trump's VP spot who introduced him
at the event. And in an interview with Business Insider on
Monday, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, another person in
consideration to be Trump's running mate, did the same.

"We must maintain law and order at the highest level or we will
cease to have a country," Trump said. "I am the law-and-order
candidate. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is weak,
ineffective, pandering, and, as proven by her recent email
scandal, which was an embarrassment not only to her, but to the
nation as a whole, she is either a liar or grossly incompetent.
Personally, I think she is both."

"Not only am I the law-and-order candidate, but I am also the
candidate of compassion," Trump continued. "But you can't have
true compassion without providing safety for the citizens of the
United States. Every kid in America should be able to securely
walk the streets in their own neighborhood. Everyone will be
protected equally and treated justly, without prejudice. We will
be tough, we will be smart, we will be fair — and we will protect
all Americans. Without safety, we have nothing!"

In Dallas, five officers were killed and seven other people
injured after a sniper, who later told police he wanted to kill
white police officers, opened fire. The incident came the end of
a peaceful protest for the recent police-involved shootings of
Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota. In
the days since, police and activists have sparred at protests across the country.

"We need a president who will once again put law and order at the
top of the priority of the presidency in this country," Christie
said Monday. "Lawlessness will not be tolerated from anyone, no
matter how powerful or lack of power those people may have. Law
and order needs to be the first priority again in our country."

In his interview with Business Insider, Flynn
said "some form of anarchy" has taken over streets in major US
cities within the past 48 hours because people "don't respect the
law enforcement professionals."

"We have got to respect the rule of law in this country," he
said. "We have got to respect the rule of law in this country."